The Associated Press/ CBS
Related: Terrorists score some success even in failures
LONDON — British authorities investigating the fast-moving U.K. terror plot now suspect that Iraqi-born doctor Bilal Abdulla and Lebanese-born Khaled Ahmed, the two men who tried to bomb Glasgow International Airport, also attempted the two London car bombings a day earlier, CBS News has learned.
 A forensics team investigates after two men crashed a fiery jeep into a Glasgow airport. The two men driving were the only injured. (AP Photo) |
British intelligence services also believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bear the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Intelligence sources tell CBS News that the people behind the attempts were directly recruited by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the present leader of the terror group’s Iraq franchise.
Police investigating the plot had arrested eight people Tuesday, including at least six suspects trained as doctors, including a man of Indian nationality arrested in Australia.
Sources close to the investigation tell CBS News that two or three arrests were likely to be seen in Britain by the end of the week and that some of the arrests will be of British nationals.
Later Tuesday, two men were arrested in northwestern England under the Terrorism Act, but a police statement said it was “too early to confirm whether or not these arrests are linked to recent events in London and Glasgow.”
Sky News, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the suspects — two men — were arrested in Blackburn, England after they were seen trying to collect a number of gas canisters from an industrial site.
Sources tell CBS News that al-Muhajir recruited people for the plot between 2004 and 2005, while they were living in the Middle East, upon orders from then-al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Muhajir was told to recruit young men who could easily move into Western countries, assimilate and lay low until the time came to attack. Britain has a fast-track visa program for medical students which makes it easier for them to enter the country.
The belief that this small cell of militants was recruited purposely by a major terror organization for their specific qualifications differentiates the group from the cell of “homegrown” attackers who were behind the bloody July 7, 2005 attack that left 52 people dead on London’s transport network.
Terrorism expert Paul Kurtz told CBS’ Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Tuesday, “there is concern they used a trusted profession, recently arrived to the U.K., that’s a new mode of operation.”
There have been a number of security scares since the failed car bombings, the latest coming Tuesday afternoon with authorities evacuating Terminal 4 at London’s Heathrow Airport for five hours.
“A suspect bag was identified shortly before midday in Terminal 4,” said a statement released by the British Airports Authority.
“As an extra precaution, it was decided to perform secondary searches on all departing passengers at the aircraft gate,” which necessitated the evacuation of the terminal, the statement added. Authorities “stood down” the security situation five hours later and reopened the terminal, according to a later statement from the BAA.
No explosives were found and morning rush hour traffic was soon allowed back through the area.
The eighth arrest confirmed as part of the bomb plot investigation was made Monday in Brisbane, Australia. The 27-year-old man is also a doctor who had been working in Liverpool, England until a few months ago, according to CBS News sources.
Britain’s Sky News identified the man as Mohammed Haneef, and reported that was arrested at Brisbane’s airport as he attempted to board a flight with a one-way ticket. Sky said officials had refused to confirm reports that Haneef was bound for India, via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Police were executing a number of search warrants across Queensland state, Australia including one at the hospital where the suspect worked recently, Australian authorities said. More arrests were expected.
Speaking in Canberra Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard confirmed the doctor arrested is an Indian national, and he also revealed that a second doctor was being interviewed in relation to information given to counterterror authorities by the first suspect.
Officials say both doctors worked at the Gold Coast Hospital in southeast Queensland and were both recruited from Liverpool.
The Indian doctor was arrested at the state capital Brisbane airport as he was about to leave the country Monday night. The second doctor was being interviewed by police Tuesday but has not been arrested.